Cat + Adi Benner are two of the most sought after wedding photographers in Los Angeles and around the globe. Named the Best Wedding Photographers in Los Angeles by CBS.com, 5x winner of the Best of the Knot Magazine.

Cat and Adi Benner are two of the most sought after wedding photojournalists in Southern California. Next Exit Photography is known for magazine-worthy images full of heart and emotion with unmatched quality of service and familial devotion. Winner of the 2014 California Wedding Day Magazine Best Photographer in Los Angeles and seven-time winner of the Best of the Knot Award, their work has been published around the globe in The Knot Magazine, Bride’s Magazine, Pacific Weddings, Your Wedding Day, Brideworld, Southern Weddings Magazine, C Magaine, Wedding Style Guide (Australia), Anhelo Magazine (Japan), B Magazine (Ireland), People, Newsweek, Billboard and the Los Angeles Times, to name a few. At weddings, clients appreciate Cat and Adi’s sense of humor and camaraderie, which they combine with an artistic eye and an acute awareness to capture the most spontaneous and genuine interactions.

Joyce is a member of our famous team of “Gallagher Girls.” Joyce works with Next Exit Photography Brides…Maurine, Allie, Meaghan and Michelle! I was thrilled when Joyce joined the gang and hired me to shoot her April ’06 wedding at the Newport Beach Radisson. Joyce and James met me at the Santa Monica Pier, one of my favorite spots in SoCal, on Sunday afternoon. We had a blast, playing on the boardwalk and dodging killer waves under the Pier!
They are completely sweet and adorable and I know that we are going to get some stunners on their big day.

4:40 PM
As some of you know, Cat and I just moved into a new home/studio. For the past week, my life has consisted of the usual devotion to our Next Exit clients, as well as dodging and weaving around the “box city” that currently “is” our home.
So, Cat says to me last night, “You should get out more. Maybe take some pictures for fun. You know, an art project.”
So, today, I took a few moments and stepped outside my office and got a far as my backyard. My new backyard. With my amazing new garden. Here are some of my first “impressions.”

I was so honored to be asked to photograph “IceWedding,” an editorial style wedding fashion shoot for Wed This, a new bridal blog for the hip and unique big city bride. Tamara Rothenberg, the Publisher of Wed This, produced and styled the shoot which featured the forever-fabulous styles of the North Face clothing line. Wed This will be publishing this story very soon, but our Next Exit clients and blogoholics get a sneak peek! Also, a big congrats to Tamara and Wed This for being picked up by MyWedding.com as their nationally featured wedding blog! Our session will be the first of their upcoming series on fun destination weddings for Angelinos.
Kim, our fabulous modela, wore a flowing skirt designed by Santa Monica wedding dress designer Hanna Hartnell. Kim’s bouquet and boutonnieres worn by sexy Seth were designed by Sharon Lowe at Floracopia of one of my favorite paper meccas in the world, Soolip.

Tamara Rothenberg-This is the first time that I’m seeing these images myself, and I have to share with you my reactions.

In a word, WOW.

In six words, HOLY S*** – THESE BLOW MY MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you’re styling a shoot (or getting married for that matter) you have this image in your mind of how the photos are going to turn out. Then you hope and pray. We approached Next Exit because of this team’s artistic, unique and hip style, and Cat’s talent, skill, sense of humor and creative daring are why this shoot turned out to be so unique and amazing. This shoot is also groundbreaking because it represents the first time apparel juggernaut THE NORTH FACE has ever participated in a wedding photo shoot – so we’re making history here, guys!!

Next Exiters, you guys are the best – please call on me whenever you might need a kidney or something like that, becuase you’ve forever kindered yourself to the Wed This gang. We are excited to work with you again in the future!!

A little background on Michelle and John David. First off, Michelle works together with four other Next Exit Photography brides. Meghan, Allison, Maurine, and our April ’06 bride Joyce, all work together with July ’06 bride Michelle at Gallagher Pediatric Therapy, “a private-based pediatric practice that employs a multidisciplinary staff of highly skilled and competent therapists.” Imagine showing up to a wedding where half the invitees are past brides!~ whoa. Adi and I love all of these girls like they were part of our family. Coincidentally, (no really, it IS a coincidence) Michelle is BFF (best friends forever) with ADI’S SISTER! So, anyways, very long story short, Next Exit will be the wedding photographer at M & J.D.’s wedding this summer at Rancho Las Lomas, one of our very FAVORITE locations in Southern Cal. We shot their e-pics on and around Main Street Seal Beach, walking (and riding) distance from their fabulous new home. They are crazy-cool, adorable and now” also part of the family.

Anna Khaja, Next Exit super-bride ’03, will be guest-starring on NUMB3RS this Friday, March 31st at 10 p.m. on CBS. She plays “Saida Khafaji,” the murder victim! Many of you probably haven’t seen the show, but Adi and I are addicted to it and have TIVOed it every single week since day one. You can also see her currently starring in the 2006 Director’s Festival one-act “I stand before you naked” at the Open Fist Theater. She has also directed one of the other one-acts in the same festival, “AMP,” written by her husband, Next Exit groom, Chris Rossi.

Almost 5 years ago, I paid one dollar to get Anna’s phone number when she posted on one of those signup wedding sites looking for a wedding planner. She landed up hiring me to plan her amazing wedding at Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California and then hired Adi to shoot it! We have since become best of friends.

Congratulations to Nina and Cash!! Griffin Ready was born on Saturday, March 18 at 9:02 AM, weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces. Adi photographed Nina and Cash’s wedding at the Lobster Restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier in July 2003. They have since become two of our closest friends and I am so excited to be shooting Griffin’s baby pictures in our new studio when they visit us in May! Here is one of their wedding pics and also a pic of GRD that Nina sent me of her perfectly adorable new son.

P.S. If you are a Next Exit client with fabulous news to share, please send me a e-mail so that I can announce it on our blog!